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June 30, 2006
Home Inspection
Day before yesterday, M and I had our home inspection for our new house. There were several things that needed to be fixed, and I wasn't surprised because it's a 100 year old house. Our realtor is going to negotiate with the seller to fix it, etc.
The whole process got me to thinking about one of Aubrey de Grey's best metaphors for the engineering approach to the reversal of aging. He suggests that we consider a house: if properly maintained, a house can live indefinitely. Sure, you have to put on a new roof from time to time, and replace the hot water heater every twenty to twenty-five years. You'll need to repaint the place, and the floor joists (new word, spelling thanks to MoMR!) might need bracing. But basically, you can repair the damage and keep living in the house. You can even make improvements: add a bathroom, do some renovations, etc.
There's no reason to believe that we couldn't do the same with the human body. If we could learn how to repair the damage that happens to the body over time, we could essentially reverse the aging process. Buy ourselves new water heaters, re-paint a few rooms, maybe even pave over the weeds in the backyard. Make it a rock garden or something. Very Zen.
CR is a little bit like making it rain less so that the wood in the basement won't rot as fast. It might slow down the aging process, but it certainly won't reverse it. That's why we need something better. That's why I support the Mprize, and why I support the SENS project.
Reversing aging may sound like a tall order, but I can't imagine that it would be any *more* stressful than buying a house!
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Posted by april at June 30, 2006 6:34 AM
Comments
The only thing more stressful than buying a house is trying to sell one :-). I'm so psyched for you guys that you're buying, though. We're still attempting to sell ours in TN, and the housing prices are enough higher here that we'll probably be doing the apartment thing for a year or two in an attempt to save up down payment and pay off some debt before we dive back into home ownership.
Thanks for your comments on my last post. Sometimes I feel like life is pure chaos and I'm barely treading water, so its nice to hear from friends - even ones I only know over the internet :-).
Amy
Posted by: Amy Wright at July 1, 2006 4:46 PM
The house sounds lovely, April! Congrats to you and MR... We have an old home, too - and we've had a lot of fun fixing her-up!
Posted by: alex at July 1, 2006 6:48 PM